Palestinians turn out for historic vote

January 20, 1996
Web posted at: 6:15 a.m. EST (1115 GMT)

From Correspondent Walter Rodgers and wire reports

WEST BANK (CNN) -- Polls opened in
Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem early Saturday, giving Palestinians their first chance to do something they have never done before: vote. Election officials say the early turnout to choose a president and legislative council is heavy.

"The biggest problem is that the ballot boxes which were designed to international standards filled up at 11 o'clock (0900 GMT), four hours after the polls opened," said Mahmoud Abbas, better known as Abu Mazen, the head of the Palestinian election commission.

To many
Palestinians, voting means the chance to recover hope; others
see it as a meaningless gesture. Abed Abu Diab says this election is about dreams. Not only is
it the first time he's run for elected office -- a seat on
the Palestinian Council -- it is the first time he will be
allowed to vote.

For Diab and a million other Palestinians who have lived most
of their lives under Israeli rule, these elections are the
stuff dreams are made of.

"For 28 years, we were under occupation, and occupation means
you lose your control of your destiny. By casting your vote
you are regaining the control of your destiny. It is the
meaning of voting," said Palestinian political analyst Ali
Jirbawi.

Just over a million Palestinians registered to vote. Of the
90 percent eligible, more than a third of a million are in
Gaza, over half a million are on the West Bank and more than
76,000 are in east Jerusalem.

Some say that the democratic process is being sold as a
remedy for all that has befallen Palestinians.

"This will reverse the whole attitude of victimization. This
will activate the people's participation. Voters will start
creating systems rather than individuals. It is the
beginning of the exercise of sovereignty," said Palestinian
Council Candidate Hanan Ashrawi.

Until now, one individual, Yasser Arafat, has been the prime
embodiment of the Palestinian cause, and few think the
election will change that.

Arafat, expected to win the presidency by an overwhelming
margin, has been criticized for conducting the election the
way he ran the revolutionary Palestinian Liberation
Organization: autocratically, arbitrarily, secretively, and
without accountability.

"This is only rumors, false rumors, nothing else," Arafat
said. "We are used to having some criticism in Gaza. It is
part of our democracy, and we are proud of it."

Arafat's police have jailed journalists and human rights
activists and have intimidated Palestinian newspapers.
Winners of primary elections have been pushed aside and
elections results ignored so Arafat's people could get on the
ballot.

"He and others are finding difficulty adjusting to a new
situation. There were lots of violations of the election
law," said parliamentary candidate Moustafa Barghoutti.

The only alternative to Arafat's presidency is 73-year-old
social activist Samirha Khalil. As many as 25 percent of
Palestinians were expected to cast protest votes for her.

There seems to be a reservoir of anti-Arafat anger among
voters. Islamic fundamentalists like Hamas in Gaza are
boycotting the election because they believe Arafat has
surrendered Palestinian interests to the Israelis.

If Arafat fails to improve the lives of the Palestinian poor,
some of those angry young men could become the political
beneficiaries.

And it is not just Islamic fundamentalists sitting out the
elections. "I have three children in prison; my house was
destroyed; may God curse Arafat's father," one woman said.

There is widespread discontentment over Israel's refusal to
release the nearly 4,000 Palestinian prisoners it still
holds.

Many poor people are boycotting the election, believing that
only the affluent will realize any real benefits.

Intifada activist Mahmoud Najjar said he is refusing to vote
out of disillusionment. "This deal is not what we fought
for," Najjar said.

Najjar was badly wounded during the Intifada, the Palestinian
revolt against Israel. Like many who battled in the streets
to end the Israeli occupation, he accuses Arafat of favoring
his PLO political loyalists.

Yet despite a backlog of doubt and disillusionment, most
Palestinians want to give democracy a chance. They have
lived next door to Israel and seen Israeli democracy and
prosperity work for them. And they seem to be pinning their
hopes as much on the new Palestinian council as on a
Palestinian president.

The new Palestinian council will have 88 members elected from
677 candidates, most of them political unknowns. Yet the
council is a big mystery. Can it override President Arafat?
What is its legislative mandate? Can the president bypass or
ignore the council? Where will it meet and how often? There
simply has not been time to organize or write a constitution.

Despite the criticism and concern, something exciting is
happening. Palestinian women are lobbying candidates for
social security and health care. A disabled veteran of the
Intifada pleads for national health insurance, not from an
autocratic prince, but from a political candidate.

And the man for whom many thought this election would be a
mere coronation at least pretends that he's running scared
when asked what margin of victory he expects. Asked if he
would consider himself in trouble if the percentage were
lower than 75, Arafat responded, "I prefer 51," and laughed.

Best of all, Palestinians seem to be having fun. At an
election forum skit, Palestinian candidate henchmen pay off
some thugs to guarantee his election. They said their
portrayal is not unlike politics in more mature democracies.

Election eve violence

Just a few hours before polls opened, three Muslim militants
were killed after attempting to disrupt the elections.

In the West Bank village of Jalameh, three members of Hamas
fired on Israeli troops at an army roadblock. Troops returned
fire and killed the assailants.

Palestinian police met with Hamas leaders to urge them to
delay funerals for the Hamas members until after elections.

In the West Bank village of Idna, a Palestinian was shot dead
when rival candidate's supporters each accused one another of
collaborating with the Israelis.

In Ramallah on the West Bank, Palestinian police broke up a
protest rally of some 100 opposition activists, shoving
protesters and breaking two news photographers' cameras.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter was in the West Bank along
with an international team of observers. The group met with
Palestinian human rights activists Friday, concerned about
reports that journalists and campaign activists were arrested
by Arafat's security forces. "Criticism of the central
authority has not been permitted," Carter said.